Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats that Won World War II

“Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II is an important book and Jerry Strahan has performed an admirable service for the city, military, and maritime historians in detailing the engineering and manufacturing innovations of a forgotten pioneer.”—New Orleans Times-Picayune

Andrew Jackson Higgins is perhaps the most forgotten hero of the Allied victory. He designed the LCVP and the first effective tank landing craft, and his shipyard produced more than 20,000 boats for Allied forces. Jerry Strahan’s biography of Higgins reveals a colorful, controversial character—hard-fisted, hard-swearing, and hard-drinking—who was an outsider to New Orleans’ elite social circles. He was also, however, a hardworking boatbuilder who became a major industrialist with a worldwide reputation—even Hitler was aware of Higgins, calling him “the new Noah.”

Jerry E. Strahan is the author of Managing Ignatius: The Lunacy of Lucky Dogs and Life in the Quarter.